Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Unitarity-violation in generalized Higgs inflation models
AU - Lerner, Rose N.
AU - McDonald, John
PY - 2012/11
Y1 - 2012/11
N2 - Unitarity-violation presents a challenge for non-minimally coupled models of inflation based on weak-scale particle physics. We examine the energy scale of tree-level unitarity-violation in scattering processes for generalized models with multiple scalar fields where the inflaton is either a singlet scalar or the Higgs. In the limit that the non-minimal couplings are all equal (e. g. in the case of Higgs or other complex inflaton), the scale of tree-level unitarity-violation matches the existing result. However if the inflaton is a singlet, and if it has a larger non-minimal coupling than other scalars in the model, then this hierarchy increases the scale of tree-level unitarity-violation. A sufficiently strong hierarchy pushes the scale of tree-level unitarity-violation above the Planck scale. We also discuss models which attempt to resolve the issue of unitarity-violation in Higgs Inflation.
AB - Unitarity-violation presents a challenge for non-minimally coupled models of inflation based on weak-scale particle physics. We examine the energy scale of tree-level unitarity-violation in scattering processes for generalized models with multiple scalar fields where the inflaton is either a singlet scalar or the Higgs. In the limit that the non-minimal couplings are all equal (e. g. in the case of Higgs or other complex inflaton), the scale of tree-level unitarity-violation matches the existing result. However if the inflaton is a singlet, and if it has a larger non-minimal coupling than other scalars in the model, then this hierarchy increases the scale of tree-level unitarity-violation. A sufficiently strong hierarchy pushes the scale of tree-level unitarity-violation above the Planck scale. We also discuss models which attempt to resolve the issue of unitarity-violation in Higgs Inflation.
KW - particle physics - cosmology connection
KW - inflation
KW - cosmology of theories beyond the SM
KW - STANDARD MODEL
KW - DARK-MATTER
KW - SCALAR
KW - GRAVITY
KW - BOSON
U2 - 10.1088/1475-7516/2012/11/019
DO - 10.1088/1475-7516/2012/11/019
M3 - Journal article
VL - 2012
JO - Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
JF - Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
SN - 1475-7516
IS - 11
M1 - 019
ER -